Talk about overpaying!!!

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Posted By: Mike H

This was an insane price for this pinback. The condition isn't even great. These sell for $100-$200 in every other auction I've seen. It's amazing what Henry gets for his auctions.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=250212562473&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=015

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Posted By: Rob Dewolf

Mike,

As I was watching (and bidding) on a few of Henry's items last night, I thought the same thing.

Case in point:

1936 Goudey Premium JOE DIMAGGIO (PSA) ROOKIE Year

I didn't bid on the DiMaggio, but I did place what I thought were two insanely high snipes on this, to no avail:

1949 INDIANS Sun Picture Negatives & Cards

And it's not just these two isolated items. Punchboards, cards, photos, pinbacks ... he just seems to have the eBay touch.

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Posted By: Mark Steinberg

You guys are right....

Case in point - A Joe Dimaggio Store Model Glove sold for $1,292. It looked nice (NRMT condition) but why it sold for about $1,000.00 more than the typical NRMT example is a mystery to me. These show up on ebay weekly...

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Posted By: Larry

shill bidding would explain it

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

I hear people leveling that accusation at Henry Yee a lot, but I've never seen any proof. I've won 3-4 of his auctions and there was never any indication that anything wasn't on the up and up. I think it may be possible that he has a similar following like the auction houses where you always see crazy unexplainable prices. I think I even received a postcard from him not long ago telling of his upcoming ebay listings.

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Posted By: Mark Steinberg

Larry:

I just took a peek at the Glove Forum, and they said the same thing as you... tainted shill bids.

Even if someone was "bidding the item up", isn't it still extraordinary that someone would be willing to pay $1,292 for a common store model DiMaggio Glove?

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Posted By: Brock G.

$1,200 for a store model glove? You could buy 10 for that price.
Where are these people when I am selling stuff?

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Posted By: Rhys

I have always wondered about his final value prices. I sell quite a bit on ebay and have hundreds of people who have me bookmarked as one of their favorite sellers etc. I have never once received the type of prices over an entire auction as he does every single time and this is over an 8 year period, thousands of items. He gets $400 for wire photos from the 1960's sometimes. Prices that are uniformly higher than Mastro and Robet Edwards when you consider the price he gets above market value. It is really amazing. I have thought in the past about maybe just shipping all my stuff to him. He gets 300% of what something is worth and then takes 30% of the value in commision, seems like a good deal to me.

Rhys

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

Rhys, I have often thought that if I do sell my photos I would consign them to him. Not that I'm even thinking about doing that, but if I was in a bind and had to sell them I would go with him.

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Posted By: andy

Hi Dan,
You're right. I used to like seeing buttons that I have go through the roof like that but now it's quite frankly just frustrating. This one wouldn't get 80 bucks if I listed it and it's in much better shape. There were 3 underbidders with bids of a minimum of $280!! I could offer this on the BST and do you think I'd get any interest at $250? Doubt it. Hope all's well...
-Andy

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Posted By: Mark Steinberg

Andy... Too bad Ebay hides the identities of those under-bidders, and won't allow you to contact them. I have wished many times, that I could contact some of these people for selling purposes.

I would love to be able to contact the underbidder of that DiMaggio Glove (and turn a quick 500% profit). Your "NYY" pin puts the Yee example to shame!

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Posted By: andy

Hi Mark,
I think Dan's right. I'd have to put whatever pride aside and consign with one of these guys if I was going to sell the better stuff. Speaking of which, thanks again for the trade a few months back. That one definitely qualifies as "the better stuff."
-A

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Posted By: Mark Steinberg

Hi Andy...

Swallowing pride seems to be a necessary evil in this hobby at times. I have paid enough in sellers' commissions over the years, to buy about 50 Pinbacks from Henry Yee (a King's ransom...)

That was indeed a great trade we did. Although in retrospect, I should have added a stipulation regarding the '45 Cubbies W.S. Pin - "No flipping or consigning to Hyee!" I wonder what type of goofy price it would have realized in his latest offering?

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Posted By: andy

it would have done quite well i'm sure,
-a

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Posted By: Steve Murray

You guys are so right!!!!

Pitching In A Pinch, 1912 Boy Scout Edition, went for $565 and he even had Mattys name misspelled in the title.

I have the same copy, bought for maybe $50, and if I were to put it on ebay doubt if I'd even break $200.

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Posted By: Rob Dewolf

I'm speechless. I am without speech.

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Posted By: Brock G.

There is just no way, absolutely no way people are actually paying those prices. The price for that Mantle picture is downright asinine.

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Posted By: Max Weder

$565 for a boy scout's edition of Pitching in a Pinch? something or someone is crazy.

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Posted By: Aaron M.

Exactly right about that pin, Mike. $100 - $200 tops even if great condition.

I always stay away from Henry's auctions as I have long heard the rumors of shill bidding, and the prices he receives would sure seem to back that up. I wonder just how many of the bidders (even winning biddrs) are legitimate.

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Posted By: Steve Murray

Two bidders over $333 on that Mantle pic. That's nutso.


treblehookd( 66) US $6,766.66 Feb-11-08 18:36:58 PST



e***e( 785) US $6,666.66 Feb-11-08 18:36:45 PST



treblehookd( 66) US $6,450.00 Feb-11-08 18:36:50 PST



treblehookd( 66) US $5,850.00 Feb-11-08 18:36:34 PST



e***e( 785) US $5,555.55 Feb-11-08 18:36:10 PST



treblehookd( 66) US $4,500.00 Feb-11-08 18:35:54 PST



e***e( 785) US $4,444.44 Feb-11-08 18:35:47 PST



e***e( 785) US $3,333.33 Feb-11-08 18:35:31 PST



treblehookd( 66) US $2,800.00 Feb-11-08 18:35:05 PST



e***e( 785) US $2,525.25 Feb-11-08 18:35:17 PST



treblehookd( 66) US $1,850.00 Feb-11-08 18:34:52 PST



e***e( 785) US $1,717.17 Feb-11-08 18:26:57 PST



treblehookd( 66) US $1,650.00 Feb-11-08 18:32:28 PST



e***e( 785) US $1,515.15 Feb-11-08 18:21:31 PST



treblehookd( 66) US $1,250.00 Feb-11-08 18:15:55 PST



e***e( 785) US $1,212.12 Feb-11-08 18:19:11 PST



e***e( 785) US $1,111.11 Feb-11-08 18:18:50 PST



e***e( 785) US $999.99 Feb-11-08 18:18:38 PST



e***e( 785) US $888.88 Feb-11-08 18:12:21 PST



e***e( 785) US $777.77 Feb-11-08 18:04:17 PST



treblehookd( 66) US $750.00 Feb-11-08 18:02:37 PST



e***e( 785) US $666.66 Feb-11-08 18:03:57 PST



e***e( 785) US $444.44 Feb-11-08 14:42:43 PST



e***e( 785) US $333.33 Feb-09-08 06:40:37 PST

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

An old fashioned bidding war...pretty stupid for that pic if you ask me, but to each their own. Looking at a few other auctions that Treblehooked bid on he spends big $$$'s on photos and not just from Henry Yee.

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Posted By: Steve Murray

It's too bad that he has a history of paying big $$$ for photos. With that knowledge someone may try to take advantage of him.

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Posted By: Rhys

In 20+ years of buying and selling vintage Baseball photography, I have NEVER seen anything like the price for that Mantle photo. Something is not right. That would seriously be like someone paying $3000 for a VG t206 common or something.


That photo is $200-$300 when all the stars are aligned. It could have been shot by Ansel Adams with Yosemite National Park in the background, numbered and signed by him and it is STILL not worth $6000+.

Something has to be going on.

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

Too bad ebay has made it all but impossible to try and figure out what is going on.

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Posted By: scgaynor

I have no idea who won the Mantle photo, but photos are one of those things that you will have to sometimes overpay for if you like it, because you may never see it again. That being said, I would have guessed $300-500 for that photo on its best day. It is nice, but there are alot of nice Mantle photos.

Scott

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Posted By: Mark

Scott:

Point well taken about the photos... may be a unique image for which a bidder might be inclined to overpay. I would argue though, that Mantle's bat was not actually bending- rather it was the bat speed causing it to appear curved.

Back to the point... the obscene amount by which Yee's items are exceeding market value is what is raising such suspicion. And it is not limited to his photos... we have mentioned all of those Pinbacks, and $1,292 for a very common DiMaggio Store-model glove? Something just does not feel right :-?

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Posted By: Brock G.

Do you think he is paying himself these high prices? I got a feeling he is hoping people who see these extremely high prices his pieces are "selling" for will reach a little deeper in their pockets when he lists similiar items. There is just no way he actually gets these prices.

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Posted By: Paul Muchinsky

Since I know nothing about gloves, photos, bats, cards, etc., I have no idea what price any such item would be "under", "at", or "above" market. The prices in my book for baseball pinbacks have been criticized in every possible way. I have heard all four:
1. Too high on the highs. "Who would ever pay that much for a pin? You are a moron."
2. Too low on the highs. "You list the price of a pin of Honus Wagner, same era, perhaps even greater scarcity, at less than 1% of the price of his card? You are a moron?"
3. Too low on the lows. "Just $5 for that pin? I'd end up paying more than $5 for just S/H. You are a moron."
4. Too high on the lows. "$10 for that pin? Why, I can get that exact same pin for just $3 at Leo's Sports Card Shoppe. You are a moron".

Because Henry's 1946 Red Sox pin sold for less than my estimated value, and a PM10 pin sold for more than my esimated value, if you average the two, my values must be near perfect. I have no idea why items sell for more or less than someone else thinks they should have gone for. But they consistently do. Maybe "market volatility" is the inexorable explanation for prices that are quite simply what two or more people are willing to pay for an item they both want, or what one person gets an item for because nobody else wanted it all that much at that time. I am also at a loss to explain why things sell for what they do. But I would like to believe there are more benign explanations than: a) sellers who are cheats, and b) buyers who have more money than brains.

Have I ever gotten a bargain? Yes. Have I ever been shilled? Yes (by a big auction house). Ted Williams once said that breaks never balance out in a game or in a season, but they do over an entire career. That is the only sense I can make out of the prices in our hobby.

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Posted By: Ben

Just curious if anyone on here won the 1924 Columbia Yearbook featuring Lou Gehrig. I was one of the underbidders on it and thought I had a chance around 600-700 dollars.

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Posted By: Scott Mt. Joy

I won two items from his recent auction and checking over the underbids I dont see what looks like any shill bids on them. I won a clemente PM-10 Pin, it closed at $180 and had 6 different underbidders from $110 to $177. I also bid on two of his Clemente wire photos and lost on both, I was the underbidder on one so I will keep an eye out to see if it comes up for auction from them again.

I will say that the bidding on the Mantle photo looks suspect but at the same time, I think anyone willing to spend 6K on a photo should at least look into using a snipe program.

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Posted By: brock

I'm not saying this was shill bidding, but i was bidding on one of the Lou gehrig wire photos because i really want one. But my top bid was $77, the current bid was $49, next thing i now its at $77. So i raise my max up to $97 i check a minute later and it's up to $97. The guy never bid again. It may be nothing or it could be something.